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Russell Society members information pages and contributions.
If you have any contributions, articles or pictures of interest to Russell Society members, or have any requests for information, books, specimens, classified adverts, etc. then please email them to who will include them on this page.
Society ASM 2011 Information Society Library News Specimen Drawers Jim Goulding Sir Arthur Russell Member Requests
Russell Society Annual Society Meeting 2011.
The next Russell Society Annual Society Meeting and Annual General Meeting 2011 will be hosted by the Central Branch at Losehill Hall, National Park Learning and Environmental Centre, Castleton, Hope Valley, Derbyshire S33 8WB, over the weekend of Friday 8th to Sunday 11th April 2011. Losehill Hall is set in 27 acres in the heart of the Peak District National Park and provides all the facilities we need on site - from en suite bedrooms, lecture / display rooms, a separate dining room, plus a bar and lounge plus access to a few picnic tables should the weather be hot! Full details (program and booking form) will be circulated later this year.
For this ASM weekend they are planning a digital photo competition to be judged by those present on the Friday night using an electronic button-pressing system. There will be prizes for the best images so start looking for that winning photograph and enter the competition when the details are made available.
You can still view the report on the 2010 ASM weekend hosted by the Northern Branch in Durham. This photographic report comprises of over sixty photographs that can be accessed here. If you are considering coming along to a Society ASM weekend take a look here to see what sort of activities you can look forward to.
Important News About the Russell Society Library.
The Society has for many years maintained a library of books and journals / off-prints which is available for loan to members. In recent years the level of requests has fallen to a very low level. The current keeper of the library (Sallie Bassham) will shortly be moving house and has indicated that the library needs to be found a new home.
The Society Council has discussed the options and has concluded that unless someone comes forward to take on the role of Librarian, and is able to provide suitable storage space for the Library, then the best option is to arrange for disposal of the material, initially to members, either by gift or sale (depending upon the items in question), and subsequently to anyone who may be interested. A full listing of the Library is available via the link below.
If you are interested in taking on the role of
Librarian please contact either: Margaret Ince on 01509 263507
or Roy Starkey on 01527 874101 or email this website at the address given above
and your message will be forwarded. Thank you.
Roy Starkey, Hon.President - The Russell Society.
The latest Library List (April 2010) is available here and can be downloaded as a PDF file that can be searched if required. You will need Adobe Reader® or other PDF reader to view this file.
Disposal of Specimen Drawers.
Royal Holloway Earth Sciences Department is currently having a 'spring clean' and will be disposing of some sets of drawers which would be ideal for keeping collections of rocks, minerals and fossils. They are made of solid wood and vary in size. Obviously they are not in pristine condition but, with a bit of attention, could easily be transformed into some reasonably attractive pieces of furniture. If you are interested in aquiring any of these then please contact David Alderton, Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX. Telephone: 01784 443585; email: d.alderton@rhul.ac.uk if interested and he can supply dimensions and photographs. A contribution to the departmental finances in these difficult times would be most welcome!
The drawer cabinet shown is a larger set, which also has a door. Although they look very large the dimensions are 56 cm x 63 cm x 135 cm (the book also gives scale). Drawers are 7 cm and 9 cm deep. Realistically, individuals would have to make arrangements to collect the drawers themselves.
Jim Goulding - Southern Branch.
It is with great sadness that we must report the death of Southern Branch member Jim Goulding on the 4th January 2010 after a lengthy period of deteriorating health. Jim was one of the original members of the Southern Branch in 1987 and was still on the branch committee up until his passing.
Shortly after becoming a member of the Southern Branch of the Russell Society he volunteered for the role of Field Trip Secretary where he was able to put his knowledge to good use. It was in this role for the branch that most members will have encountered Jim on the many trips he organised over the years. His field knowledge and expertise was considerable having visited many old and classic sites over a period of more than 30 years. Jim was one of the last true gentleman collectors, who was rarely seen in the field without his jacket and tie, and always very keen to pass on his knowledge and experience. There are few members in the Southern Branch or in the Society as a whole who have not benefited from Jim's expertise whether on a field trip or at informal Society meetings. Jim leaves his wife Gill and son Peter and our condolences go to them and all of his family for such a great loss of a good man. The picture shows Jim admiring a piece of malchite at Great Orme in 2002.
Sir Arthur Russell
As all members will know, I hope, the Russell Society was named after the eminent amateur mineralogist Sir Arthur Edward Ian Montagu Russell (1878 - 1964). Sadly there is a singular lack of information about Sir Arthur on the internet so I have now included on the Russell Society website a copy of an article by Alan Hart and Bob Symes, first published in the Journal of the Russell Society Vol. 4 Part 1 1991, to try and give visitors to the site some information on the greatest British mineral collector of the last century, after whom the Society is named. On the page are a couple of pictures of Sir Arthur and his home at Swallowfield Park, near Reading. The house and extensive grounds are now owned by the Country Houses Association. It is open on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, 2 - 5 pm, from May to September. Also on the page are some pictures of specimens originally collected by Russell and some of labels from the National Museums and Galleries of Wales. These are from specimens in their collection of minerals in the Harwood Collection.
I would like to include more of his specimens and labels or notes. If anybody has any photographs they can supply for inclusion I would be very grateful. These can be sent to the contact address above. Click here or on the picture to view the biography page.
There are a number of Russell labels shown on the Mineralogical Record, Biographical Label Archive, with some relating to specimens acquired from old collections that are of particular interest.
Members Classified Adverts
R.F.D. Parkinson - Information Wanted.
Whilst researching the "Minerals of the Mendips" book I tried to find out more information on Reginald Francis Derek Parkinson (after whom parkinsonite is named). Reg was a prominent collector of minerals from the Mendips and ran a mineral business from Doulting near Shepton Mallet. Unfortunately there appears to be little or no information about Reg and and his collecting or collection. He was a member of the Russell Society up to 1978 but then he lapsed and no further information is available. It is thought that he passed away but I can find no date or obituary.
If possible I would like to put together a short history of Reg and am looking for any information, pictures, letters etc. If you have any information you can e-mail me on . It would be shame if the person after whom the mineral is named should drift into obscurity so that his memory only lives on in the mineral name with no supporting biography. Thanks Gary Morse.
The photograph is from the RS Newsletter No 4 and shows Reg (sixth from right) leading a field trip to Higher Pitts Farm in 1976.
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